This name may have been a title for the kings of the Amalekites, a nomadic people who attacked the Israelites immediately after their departure from Egypt. Nearly two centuries later the prophetSamuel sent KingSaul to destroy the Amalekites as punishment for that attack. Even though Samuel had ordered Saul to destroy every living thing, he spared their king. When Samuel discovered that the defeated king still lived, he himself "hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord" (1 Sam. 15:33). Saul's disobedience triggered the final break between the prophet and the man he had anointed king over Israel.